NBC NEWS: Elise Stefanik pushes to expand House GOP majority with record number of women

Published September 25, 2024, 5 a.m.

By: Bridget Bowman

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the highest-ranking GOP woman in the House, is leading a charge to break the record for Republican women serving in the chamber, just six years after a blue wave wiped out their ranks.

Stefanik, R-N.Y., who chairs the GOP conference, has been focused on boosting the ranks of Republican women in the House ever since she sounded the alarm about the “crisis level” after the 2018 midterms, when the number of GOP women dwindled to just 13.

In the nearly six years since then, Stefanik and others have worked to recruit and provide early support to women candidates. The number of Republican women in the House has tripled to a record 36, including two nonvoting members.

This time, any gains could help the GOP grow from its current narrow majority, which has been plagued by disagreement and infighting, to a more robust governing majority next year.

“It’s a model that has worked effectively, and it’s going to be a model that works effectively this time,” Stefanik said in an exclusive interview this week.

Others involved in the effort to boost GOP women are also hopeful they can reach a new milestone this year.

“We would love to see a new record set this cycle, but we aren’t taking anything for granted,” Winning for Women Action Fund Executive Director Danielle Barrow said in a statement. “Republicans owe the House majority to Republican women who have flipped battleground districts, and WFW Action Fund is working hard to defend and flip more of them in November.”

But breaking the record again could be a tall order, with some key departures on the horizon and other races hinging on how voters move in some of the most tightly divided districts in the country.

Three GOP women — Texas’ Kay Granger, Washington’s Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Arizona’s Debbie Lesko — are retiring, along with Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner, Jenniffer González-Colón, who is running for governor. Republicans are expected to gain at least two new women in the House, with North Dakota’s Julie Fedorchak and South Carolina’s Sheri Biggs winning primaries in deep-red open seats.

To break the current record, Republican female incumbents and challengers would have to win at least 11 of the 16 House races with female nominees that the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates as competitive, including some difficult re-election races and eight races with candidates running in Democratic districts.

“I still think we can get above where we are now,” Stefanik said, saying the female incumbents are strong candidates, pointing to Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel of California and Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon.

“Those are tough races,” Stefanik said. “They are going to win those races.”

Stefanik also name-checked multiple women who could win competitive seats, including GOP former Reps. Yvette Herrell of New Mexico and Mayra Flores of Texas, and other candidates, including New York’s Alison Esposito and Alabama’s Caroleen Dobson.

Even if Republicans fall short of a new record, Stefanik said, the party is “moving in the right direction.”

Nearly six years ago, Stefanik declared that the number of GOP women in the House had reached a “crisis level.” She clashed with Tom Emmer of Minnesota, then the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, who said it would be a “mistake” for Stefanik to focus on supporting female candidates through her group, E-PAC. Stefanik responded at the time that she “wasn’t asking for permission.”

Since then, Stefanik said, Emmer and other GOP leaders have become partners in her effort, noting that leadership sometimes aligns with E-PAC on endorsements and that women were key to GOP gains in 2020.

A record number of female Republicans ran that year, a record broken again in 2022, when 261 GOP female candidates ran for the House, according to the Center for Women and Politics at the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics. But this year the number has dropped to 161.

The number of House candidates has dropped overall since 2022, a redistricting year that brought a surge of new candidates. The Center for Women and Politics found the steepest drop was among Republican women. Asked about that decline, Stefanik pointed to fewer Republican retirements and fewer GOP targets this year, with Republicans in the majority.

For Stefanik, the effort to recruit more GOP women to run for the House has been a resounding success.